Our workhttps://ww2.rspb.org.uk/community/ourwork/default.aspxYou might be surprised to read that our work is far broader than nature reserves and Big Garden Birdwatch. Read more about what else we do.7.x ProductionComment on The impact of Gola Forest in Liberia (Part 1): a focus on forest communitieshttps://ww2.rspb.org.uk/community/ourwork/b/martinharper/archive/2018/02/16/the-impact-of-gola-forest-in-liberia-part-1-a-focus-on-forest-communities.aspxSat, 17 Feb 2018 07:58:00 GMT6174fb62-ac55-4f5d-840d-caedeb3eebf5:2c9762c5-bdb9-4e3b-a334-a57c7fa2a268Glossy Ibis An excellent article and project emphasising the international co-operation of the RSPB. Blog Post: The use of spruce: a crossbill’s perspectivehttps://ww2.rspb.org.uk/community/ourwork/b/biodiversity/archive/2018/02/16/the-use-of-spruce-a-crossbill-s-perspective.aspxFri, 16 Feb 2018 15:37:00 GMT6174fb62-ac55-4f5d-840d-caedeb3eebf5:877f8551-b3b5-4425-9c86-79dbd83b2ffdKevin Middleton Blog post by Dr Ron Summers , Principal Conservation Scientist, RSPB Centre for Conservation Science . Within northern Europe, common crossbills depend on Norway spruce seeds for food. The Norway spruce cone crop varies enormously between years and the variations are synchronous across a wide range. In years when no cones are produced, we see irruptions of crossbills to regions south of their normal range. As Norway spruce isn’t native to the UK, previously irrupting common crossbills arriving from Fennoscandia and Russia could only forage on the tough woody cones of the native Scots pine. This was until the introduction of Norway spruce and Sitka spruce (a North American conifer) to enhance the national timber crop. Now, Sitka spruce makes up half of the woodland area of Scotland, whilst Norway spruce comprises only three %. Sitka spruce in particular, has helped common crossbills become established in the UK as a breeding species. A female common crossbill foraging on a Sitka spruce cone. Photo by Ron Summers Why was I researching this? While we were aware of the importance of spruces to crossbills, there was little known about their feeding habitats or indeed basic features of spruce cones on which they feed. To understand this important part of these fascinating birds ecology, I measured cone sizes and seed fall, and collected spruce cones dropped by feeding crossbills to establish seed extraction efficiency. This research has recently been published in the journal Forestry . Sitka spruce and Norway spruce cones differ in several respects. Norway spruce cones are much larger than Sitka cones. The latter are small enough for a crossbill to remove from the tree, hold against a stout branch with its foot, and pry apart scales with its crossed bills to extract the seeds. The cone is then discarded and tumbles to the ground. However, crossbills are only able to do this for the smaller (lightest 10%) Norway spruce cones. The larger ones are too heavy, so the crossbills have to forage directly on these cones still attached to the tree. Sitka spruce cones (above) and Norway spruce cones (below). The Sitka spruce cones are a mix of maturing (green/purple) and old cones (brown). Photos by Ron Summers. What's the difference? Another major difference between the two conifers is when they shed their seeds following the cones maturing in late summer. I studied this by catching seeds in plastic bins set under the canopy, with a muslin liner placed inside the bins catching the falling seeds. Sitka spruce started shedding seed in autumn, thereby reducing the food supply for crossbills through autumn to spring, whereas Norway spruce retained their seeds until spring. The early start to seed dispersal by Sitka spruce is a trait of many North American conifers. It is believed to be a strategy to reduce seed losses to pine squirrels, which begin removing and caching cones as soon as the cones have matured. In northern Europe, red squirrels don’t have the same caching tendency, so there has been no selective pressure on Norway spruce to disperse seed early. Collecting cones To study seed extraction by crossbills on Sitka spruce cones, I had to search for foraging birds. When located, I approached the tree quietly, so that cones dropped by the birds could be observed as they fell, and then collected. I then dried the cones to extract and count remaining seeds. I estimated the number of seeds in the cones (from cone length) before the crossbills started foraging, so by subtracting the number remaining, the number consumed was derived. The mean number of seeds taken from Sitka spruce cones was 87, and 68 from Norway spruces. These were equivalent to 45% and 42% removed, respectively. There was a trend for fewer Sitka seeds to be taken across the period between autumn (August) and spring (March), coincident with fewer seeds being available as the seasons progressed. Figure one: The seasonal decline in the number of seeds available (□) in Sitka spruce cones and numbers consumed in these cones (●) by common crossbills. Incomplete extraction of seeds suggests that it is more profitable to switch to another cone to maximise average intake rate, and that the threshold for switching cones changes as the number of seeds declines. Although optimal foraging may account for some of the variation in the number of Sitka spruce seeds taken, some of the low values may have been due to birds terminating feeding when disturbed, or when a flock decided to forage elsewhere. Despite the seasonal decline in seed number, irregular cone production and the small seed size of Sitka spruce, this conifer is attractive to crossbills because the thin papery cone scales make it easy for crossbills to extract seeds. This, plus its abundance in the UK, has clearly benefitted common crossbills, whose numbers exceeded 27,000 in the Scottish Highlands during 2008. Conservation concerns One conservation concern is that hybridisation with Scottish crossbills is now more likely when both crossbill species share other conifers, such as lodgepole pine, particularly in years when there are no Sitka spruce cones. To date, cases of hybridisation have only been recorded between parrot and Scottish crossbills in Caledonian pinewoods. It would probably be more difficult to detect hybridisation between Scottish and common crossbills, because it involves catching pairs of birds at nest sites, and these are more difficult to find in plantations, where the tree density is high. Paper: The paper: ' Foraging patterns of common crossbills ( Loxia curvirostra ) on spruces ( Picea spp.) in Scotland ' has just been published in Forestry . Blog Post: Photo of the week: a cold start for a skylarkhttps://ww2.rspb.org.uk/community/ourwork/b/natureshomemagazine/archive/2018/02/16/photo-of-the-week-a-cold-start-for-a-skylark.aspxFri, 16 Feb 2018 11:00:00 GMT6174fb62-ac55-4f5d-840d-caedeb3eebf5:ec7ad00c-b3b5-4563-9d0c-1fe96cc6f63dJack P I often take the 40 minute walk to the shop at the weekend if I haven't got much else planned for that day. The walk starts at the Cambridgeshire Wildlife Trust reserve Byron's Pool, and then cuts across some scrubby grassland. It's not the world's most exciting walk, but not bad for a supermarket run and I'll often see a hare or two. Last weekend as I took to the edge of the grassy scrub, I was treated to my first skylark singing from up high. It was a wintry day, and I felt this photo of the week sent in by Nature's Home reader Susan Blagden sums it up perfectly. Belting it out, and parachuting to the ground against a cold, grey sky in mid-February. Time for a little rest. (Photo: copyright Susan Blagden, www.contemplativecamera.org Twitter: @cameraprayer) What have you begun to hear as spring creeps into view? Jack Blog Post: The impact of Gola Forest in Liberia (Part 1): a focus on forest communitieshttps://ww2.rspb.org.uk/community/ourwork/b/martinharper/archive/2018/02/16/the-impact-of-gola-forest-in-liberia-part-1-a-focus-on-forest-communities.aspxFri, 16 Feb 2018 07:00:00 GMT6174fb62-ac55-4f5d-840d-caedeb3eebf5:79b4971e-bf1e-4de3-b6ef-5d44a7e78691MartinHarper In 2009, a vision was conceived to create a transboundary peace park covering Gola forest across the Sierra Leone-Liberia border: protecting nearly 250,000 hectares of one of the most important biodiversity hotspots on the planet. For this vision to be realised, both countries needed to designate areas of their best forest as national parks. Sierra Leone reached this milestone in 2011 with the designation of the Gola Rainforest National Park. Following that, Liberia needed to revise its protected area legislation and then make the case for designation of the Liberian part of Gola forest. Today, thanks to the tireless work of the BirdLife partner, Society for the Conservation of Nature of Liberia , the legislation is now in place and the Gola Forest National Park should soon be publicly launched*. Like Sierra Leone, Liberia is one of the poorest countries in the world, yet unlike Sierra Leone, much of its forest remains intact with 43% of the Upper Guinean forest (which is one of the top 25 biodiversity hotspots in the world) found in Liberia. A slightly updated map from the one I shared last week - but still only partially illustrating the extent of forest on the Liberian portion of the Gola landscape On the seven hour drive up to meet the joint RSPB-SCNL team just north of Gola, good quality forest dominated the landscape. We have been supporting SCNL for five years and believe that together we can have a massive impact for forests and people. The new National Park will protect 88,000 hectares of forest and there are options for further designation in the north at the Foya proposed national park. Throughout this region, there are good numbers of critically endangered pygmy hippo, forest elephant, Western Chimpanzee, Diana Monkey as well as populations of the two endemic birds, White-necked Picathartes and Gola Malimbe. Yet, the ambition is to ensure that the forest outside the Park is also well managed to ensure connectivity across the wider landscape. This is why the Community Forest concept is taking hold in Liberia and is now enshrined in legislation. Through a EU grant, we have been working to try to establish a Community Forest in an areas to the north of Gola – which we have called Golama (which means ‘unity’ in the local language). The goal is establish plans and governance so that the local community takes responsibility for managing its forest resources. It would essentially provide the equivalent of a local strategic planning. We are in the middle of a nine-step process (shown below) hopefully resulting in the creation of a Community Forest Management Plan. In parallel, we are working to improve livelihoods. Our team has been training the community in beekeeping, rice, cocoa and groundnut farming. The idea is simple – improve production so people have enough food to live without relying on more forest-damaging extractive activities. For example, we are training farmers to do lowland rice farming which delivers three harvest a year rather than one harvest of rice in seven years in the hills. I was pleased to be able to hand out certificates to newly qualified ‘master farmers’ who, having learnt the best practice in lowland rice farming, will now go back to their community to train other farmers. It’s a simple model but could be transformational. Perhaps the most surprising element of the programme is the belief that artisanal mining for gold might be an environmentally sustainable alternative form of income. The region has a long history of mining for diamonds and it is likely that people will carry on in the belief that one day they will strike it lucky. We visited an active mine in the forest perhaps the size of half a swimming pool. Here, we are piloting new approach to encourage the miners to go for gold rather than diamonds. Gold, which was during our stay confirmed in the forest, has a shorter supply chain and so more of the profits stay with the miner. Yet, the mine we visited was right next to an old nest of Gola malimbe. The belief is that the community forest concept might not only help identify the best places to mine for gold, but also direct the miners away from the more sensitive sites. It is hoped that, in time, miners will have obligations to restore the site after mining – essentially replicating the Nature After Minerals model we established in England. Despite its traumatic recent history (two civil wars and the Ebola epidemic), Liberia has the potential to follow a very different economic development path – one that protects its globally important biodiversity whilst also improving prosperity. We hope that our work with SCNL in Gola makes a small contribution to this endeavour. *To differentiate the two Golas on either side of the border, it was decided that the Liberian National Park would be Gola Forest to complement Gola Rainforest National Park in Sierra Leone. Comment on The impact of Gola Rainforest in Sierra Leone (part 2): a focus on threatened specieshttps://ww2.rspb.org.uk/community/ourwork/b/martinharper/archive/2018/02/15/the-impact-of-gola-rainforest-in-sierra-leone-part-2-a-focus-on-threatened-species.aspxFri, 16 Feb 2018 03:25:00 GMT6174fb62-ac55-4f5d-840d-caedeb3eebf5:ff0037fd-55c5-447b-b3d2-f5e98c212fa1Wendy I wish the UK govt. showed this sort of enthusiasm for protecting and enhancing Brithish biodiversity. Comment on The impact of Gola Rainforest in Sierra Leone (part 1): a focus on chocolatehttps://ww2.rspb.org.uk/community/ourwork/b/martinharper/archive/2018/02/15/the-impact-of-gola-rainforest-in-sierra-leone-part-1.aspxThu, 15 Feb 2018 17:02:00 GMT6174fb62-ac55-4f5d-840d-caedeb3eebf5:3de911fa-6b4e-49df-8fc5-1d0eeec0a83eMartinHarper Sorry - I’ll try and fix. Comment on The impact of Gola Rainforest in Sierra Leone (part 1): a focus on chocolatehttps://ww2.rspb.org.uk/community/ourwork/b/martinharper/archive/2018/02/15/the-impact-of-gola-rainforest-in-sierra-leone-part-1.aspxThu, 15 Feb 2018 15:06:00 GMT6174fb62-ac55-4f5d-840d-caedeb3eebf5:0dc8559f-c732-4fe2-bb10-787decba1cfaMartinHarper Sorry - I’ll try and fix. Blog Post: The wee reserve in the wee countyhttps://ww2.rspb.org.uk/community/ourwork/b/loch-lomond-and-black-devon-wetlands/archive/2018/02/15/rspb-black-devon-wetlands.aspxThu, 15 Feb 2018 14:47:00 GMT6174fb62-ac55-4f5d-840d-caedeb3eebf5:33b9b972-bb04-4dff-90cf-9e8cc4639901Ami K With so many fascinating reserves brimming with wildlife around the Forth, it only makes sense to share some of the wonderful stories about the work we do, the people we meet and the wildlife we see. I'm Ami Kirkbright, the Assistant Warden for the Forth Reserves and I thought I'd start by introducing RSPB Black Devon Wetlands, one of five reserves under the Forth Reserves umbrella and a wonderful place for both wildlife and people. The thing about RSPB Black Devon Wetlands I love the most is the transformation from urban townscape to openness and nature. We are so lucky to have this gem of a reserve on the outskirts of Alloa in such close proximity for people to easily come and enjoy. Signing a 21 year lease to manage and maintain this reserve in 2015 makes it one of the RSPB’s newest reserves, and 2017 saw a huge increase in activity on site, with major habitat management, improved access, a series of events and lots of wonderful work from our volunteers. The viewing screen from across the pools – David Palmar I thought as we get going in 2018 I would share some of my highlights of 2017. Why it’s such a pleasure to work here, and why it’s such a great place to come and visit. Watching this reserve evolve over the past three years from when I was a Forth Reserves volunteer to now, has been incredible! So much has been achieved and we have so many people to thank for it - the Inner Forth Landscape Initiative (IFLI) and our awesome volunteers to name just a couple. IFLI is a four-year Heritage Lottery Funded partnership that centre on recognising and celebrating the natural, cultural and historical heritage of the Inner Forth and is working with communities all over the area. It has been a HUGE help getting the reserve up and running and making it such an incredible place for people to visit. It has helped improve the access to and around the reserve by funding new and improved paths; our incredible and unique viewing screen (fast becoming an iconic structure within the landscape); benches so you can ‘Take and pew and enjoy the view’; habitat works such as new pools and scrapes for wildlife; and our new set of pond dipping platforms so we can engage with children and adults about the diversity of aquatic invertebrate life living in the ponds. None of this would be possible without the support of IFLI. There is so much more but I would need another blog just for that, but it is hugely appreciated! If you would like to see what IFLI has been up to over the past four years, apart from the work at Black Devon Wetlands, and what it has planned for its final farewell, check out the Inner Forth Landscape Initiative website. Surveying Black Devon Wetlands – David Palmar Working with our incredible volunteers is another highlight! Rain or shine, wind or snow, (occasionally all four at the same time), they come out and help us do all kinds of practical tasks on the reserves. This can be anything from building the boardwalk leading to our viewing screen, to cutting down tree mallow on Fidra (one of our sea bird islands further out in the Forth) or some litter picking, no job is too big or too small for this fantastic team of people. The most recent project they have been helping out with on the reserve is the building of our pond dipping platforms. Our volunteers have dedicated over 200 hours of their time to help us complete this huge task - for which our cold, numb hands thank you immensely! Volunteers working on the board walk and pond dipping platform – David Palmar However, my BIGGEST highlight is the number of people we’ve connected with over the past year. Despite its location so close to Alloa, the reserve was a bit of an unknown. So in order to put it on the map and get the name out there in the wider community, we officially launched RSPB Black Devon Wetlands in April 2017, and celebrated with a Family Fun Day. We had storytelling, treasure hunts, pond dipping, wildlife watching, all with the comfort of a beautiful yurt and wood burning stove plus plenty of cake to go around. Local people and wildlife enthusiasts were out in force and over 100 people came to explore the reserve on that one day. This was a huge boost for us and we have since had many other events highlighting Black Devon Wetland’s amazingness, which included Black Devon After Dark where we did moth trapping and bat detecting. But it’s not just about the natural heritage of the site, there is also the cultural heritage. For instance we held an Historic Landscape event, discovering the reserve’s fascinating past and getting an exclusive look inside the Clackmannan Tower, which overlooks the reserve, with a guided tour from Historic Environment Scotland. Various event at RSPB Black Devon Wetlands It truly has been all go for 2017, and 2018 will be no different. We have a list of upcoming exciting events which can be found on the RSPB Black Devon Wetlands website, ranging from a Dawn Chorus to a sunset guided walk with a Family Fun Day in between, so something for everyone! Please head on down to experience this wonderful place and get in touch if any of our 2018 events take your fancy! You can also get updates on our work in this area by following us on Twitter @RSPBGlasgow and Facebook RSPBGlasgow . Blog Post: Deadline looms for Big Schools Birdwatchhttps://ww2.rspb.org.uk/community/ourwork/b/natureshomemagazine/archive/2018/02/15/deadline-looms-for-big-schools-birdwatch.aspxThu, 15 Feb 2018 12:01:00 GMT6174fb62-ac55-4f5d-840d-caedeb3eebf5:af07357f-28b2-4460-a0ac-52dbe31e5b3eAnna S Those of us who took part in the Big Garden Birdwatch will have submitted our results by now (quick, do so here if you haven’t yet!) But alongside the Big Garden Birdwatch, education establishments up and down the country have been counting the birds from their playgrounds and sports pitches, for the Big Schools Birdwatch . Here’s how it’s done. (Please visit the site to view this video) If you’re a teacher or parent attached to a school that hasn’t joined in the fun yet, there’s still time to do so. Get your school involved! (Photo: Eleanor Bentall, rspb-images.com) The Big Schools’ Birdwatch helps provide important information about UK birds, and there are plenty of activities, resources and support on offer, from Early Years to 14-year-olds. Here’s just some of the things your class can do to get involved. • Create edible artwork or crumble pastry maggots to attract birds to the school grounds • Make Twirlywoos binoculars (Early Years) • Be a wildlife detective on a secret mission • Build homes for nature in the school grounds There’s plenty more, besides. But at the heart of all of this is the bird count itself. A selection of identification sheets will help kids identify the different birds as they move around the school grounds. When you’ve all counted the different birds, your class will have learned about local wildlife, and their results will help the RSPB build a picture of how British birds are faring, and how best to help them. Watch the video to see how it’s done… then Submit your results before 23 February to be part of the nation’s biggest citizen science project! ========= Share your experiences with us at Nature’s Home magazine. Comment on Show the Love for Halvergate Marsheshttps://ww2.rspb.org.uk/community/ourwork/b/east/archive/2018/02/12/show-the-love-for-halvergate-marshes.aspxThu, 15 Feb 2018 11:19:00 GMT6174fb62-ac55-4f5d-840d-caedeb3eebf5:dcb4fcec-3913-4cba-9e88-a0e3ba4e7cf4Emily K Sorry for the confusion. The blue line shows the current route in place before the new scheme begun - it is still there. The red line shows the new fleet scheme, which is nearly finished - and together these make up the existing water supply. Hope this helps. Comment on The impact of Gola Rainforest in Sierra Leone (part 1): a focus on chocolatehttps://ww2.rspb.org.uk/community/ourwork/b/martinharper/archive/2018/02/15/the-impact-of-gola-rainforest-in-sierra-leone-part-1.aspxThu, 15 Feb 2018 11:11:00 GMT6174fb62-ac55-4f5d-840d-caedeb3eebf5:90b49683-b93a-429a-b5bc-22d2fca19cb1Vanellus The video link didn't work for me, Martin. Blog Post: 1446 Tristan Albatross breeding pairs on Gough Islandhttps://ww2.rspb.org.uk/community/ourwork/b/biodiversity/archive/2018/02/15/1446-tristan-albatross-breeding-pairs-on-gough-island.aspxThu, 15 Feb 2018 11:05:00 GMT6174fb62-ac55-4f5d-840d-caedeb3eebf5:59ae1cc2-89a5-488c-bf30-0af0e7db0afcJoe J Blog by Kate Lawrence , Field Assistant International Species Recovery Unit 1446 Tristan Albatross breeding pairs on Gough Island Last week we completed the challenging and enjoyable task of a whole-island count of Tristan Albatross (Diomedea dabbenena) nests. This is a task undertaken annually by the field assistants on Gough Island. After five days of searching for nests in all suitable habitat, our count came to 1446. This critically endangered species is endemic to the Tristan island group; however its extinction on Tristan Island by 1900 and negligible numbers on Inaccessible Island means that Gough Island represents the vast majority of the population. Tristan Albatross are a long-lived species and they breed biennially. Eggs are laid in January and incubated for over two months, hatching in March. It then takes around eight months of steadfast parenting for the chicks to fully develop before most of them fledge around November-December. The critically endangered status of this species is a result of low breeding success due to predation of chicks by invasive mice, and low adult survival caused by long-line fishing mortalities. Together these threats are causing long-term population decline. Our next round-island count of chicks will be in September; only then will we have an idea of the breeding success for this season. Photo courtesy of Kate Lawrence , A foggy walk to Waterfall Camp meant we could take advantage of the following clear weather days Photo courtesy of Jaimie Cleeland , Kate gets ready to look for nests in GP valley Photo courtesy of Kate Lawrence , Non-breeding Tristan Albatrosses above the West Point area Photo courtesy of Kate Lawrence , The view from False Peak - a lot of ground to cover. Edinburgh Peak, Gough Island’s highest point, is on the left. Photo courtesy of Kate Lawrence , Jaimie gets ready for dinner at Waterfall Camp Photo courtesy of Kate Lawrence , The breeding habitat of Tarn Moss gives way to rugged valleys below Photo courtesy of Kate Lawrence , Camp Glen was just one of many spectacular views along the way Photo courtesy of Jaimie Cleeland , Kate and Fabrice get ready to count a section of Albatross Plain Photo courtesy of Kate Lawrence , Courting Tristan Albatrosses in January Photo courtesy of Kate Lawrence , Jaimie at one of our regularly monitored nests in Gonydale Acknowledgement The Gough Island Restoration Programme is being carried out by the RSPB in partnership with Tristan da Cunha , BirdLife South Africa and the Department of Environmental Affairs in South Africa . The programme is part-funded by the RSPB, the UK government, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and other generous individuals and organisations. If you would like to support our efforts to save the Critically Endangered Tristan albatross and Gough bunting, please contact John Kelly , or you can donate using our online form Blog Post: Year of Young People: Plan-It Jamhttps://ww2.rspb.org.uk/community/ourwork/b/scotland/archive/2018/02/15/year-of-young-people-plan-it-jam.aspxThu, 15 Feb 2018 07:00:00 GMT6174fb62-ac55-4f5d-840d-caedeb3eebf5:62eee42d-a27f-4524-b49f-906aaef5bc91Jess B 2018 is the Year of Young People in Scotland. Here Jasper Hamlet, our Youth and Families Officer, takes a look at some of the ways RSPB Scotland will be joining is with this including an exciting Plan-It Jam taking place next month. Year of Young People: Plan-It Jam Image: Paul Gault, Young Scot “The world now has the largest generation of young people in history. I place great hope in their power to shape our future…” These words were spoken by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon whilst speaking at an event 2015. Young people are important and at RSPB Scotland we know that too. If you didn’t already know, 2018 is the Year of Young People in Scotland. Part of the Scottish government’s initiative of themed years, this year is aimed at inspiring Scotland through its young people, recognising the contribution young people make to our communities and celebrating their achievements in all areas of society. An exciting year for someone who is involved in our youth work at RSPB Scotland! This year is a perfect opportunity to shout about the fantastic work RSPB Scotland does with young people across the country but also challenge the way we work with them and capitalise on the galvanisation of Scottish youth and other organisations to change the way we work with young people, inspire them to create a world richer in nature and act creatively to develop new ways of thinking around involving young people within our work. So what are we doing? We are kicking off our involvement in YOYP18 with a partnership between RSPB Scotland and Young Scot, to create a youth jam event – “Plan-It Jam”. We are inviting 30-40 young people from across Scotland to share their ideas, thoughts and solutions on how we can create support for nature – Using the powerful tool of co-design, this full day of discussion and brainstorming will provide us with a snapshot of how Scottish youth engage with nature, and will feed into the refreshed RSPB Youth Strategy to help to keep our thinking on track and in tune with young people. We are prepared for some frank conversations about what they really think about nature, and in return we will challenge them to come up with new ideas and innovative solutions with the overall aim of improving how we communicate and work more effectively with young people. We know we won’t get all the answers but we hope this event will act as a springboard, launching us into increased and better informed involvement with 16 – 25 year olds in Scotland. Our event is open to young people aged 16-25, details about it can be found here . If this sounds like something you or someone you know would be interested in being part of do apply! Elsewhere across the country we are already undertaking fantastic projects with young people and we want to make sure that the efforts of young people in conservation is recognised. From developing pollinator highways with a school group (the Queen Bees) in Glasgow to working alongside pupils in Skye to develop family, self-led activities on the island, showing the positive contribution that young people, volunteers and communities can play in saving nature will be essential. We’re also looking forward to celebrating the contribution of young people in saving nature at the Nature of Scotland Awards 2018. This is only the start. So please spread the word, share your stories, engage with our social media and join our events across the year. For those of you who wish to know more or have ideas and contributions you would like highlighted please contact me on jasper.hamlet@rspb.org.uk More information can also be found here http://yoyp2018.scot/ and we are using the year’s hashtag, #YOYP2018, on social media. Blog Post: The impact of Gola Rainforest in Sierra Leone (part 1): a focus on chocolatehttps://ww2.rspb.org.uk/community/ourwork/b/martinharper/archive/2018/02/15/the-impact-of-gola-rainforest-in-sierra-leone-part-1.aspxThu, 15 Feb 2018 07:00:00 GMT6174fb62-ac55-4f5d-840d-caedeb3eebf5:1ac20f3f-445b-4f72-aae6-2f98d7a4fdf9MartinHarper “When Gola came here, I didn’t want it because the forest was my livelihood. Now, I want Gola to stay because it taught us cocoa farming.” [Quote from a member of cocoa production cooperative.] During my brief stay in Sierra Leone, I was overwhelmed by the warmth of the welcome we received from the local communities living in and around Gola Rainforest. It is clear that the work we are doing with our local partners is transforming lives and helping to protect the forest. I travelled with my colleague Jonathan Barnard who has led our tropical forest work for the past seven years – about a quarter of the time that the RSPB has been working in Gola. We were hosted by the Gola Rainforest National Park team whose 150 staff are employed by the Gola Rainforest Company (GRC) formed as a partnership between the Sierra Leonean government, the Conservation Society for Sierra Leone , the RSPB and the local community. As well as protecting the park by teams of park rangers, the National Park team invests in local community development. This is based on a range of benefit sharing agreements which are essentially compensation payments to the landowners of the forest. These payments have allowed the communities to build core infrastructure such as hospitals and schools but also to purchase essentially technology. For example, we visited a community which had bought a rice mill in 2016 and it has had a massive impact: reducing the time it takes to mill one bag of rice from one day by hand to five minutes by machine. The women, now relieved of that labour, are now able to invest in vegetable gardening thereby generating another source of income. But the Gola Rainforest Company goes further to support community development that benefits the forest. This has led to a new focus on cocoa farming which has the potential to provide even greater impact. In partnership with TWIN, Rainforest Alliance, Jula Consultancy and the RSPB with funding from Comic Relief, this project is training communities that live next to the forest to raise standards in cocoa farming and to work together to provide a much sought commodity. Having sampled the end product with the first batch of Gola chocolate bars last year (see here ), I saw the rest of the supply chain in action: the nurseries where the cocoa plant saplings were grown; the demonstration plots where farmers were shown best practice in cocoa farming; the harvest of cocoa (re-enacted as we were in the wrong season), the drying, bagging and storage of the beans ready for shipment. Since starting the project 18 months ago, 1,871 farmers (both men and women) have formed cooperatives to manage their cocoa production and divide the profits amongst themselves. Now, families can send their children to school because of the extra money they have earned. It is unsurprising that are keen to grow their business. The Gola partners want the cocoa farming to be successful not just because it is a key requirement of the carbon financing project we started in 2014 (see here ) but also because it offers the chance of a lasting solution by providing sustainable livelihoods which are not dependent on forest destruction. What’s more, research we have carried out suggests that this type of farmer is better for wildlife than other farming methods. It is humbling to see the impact that this programme is having on the lives of the local people and the RSPB has been at the heart of this from the beginning. As one local chief said, “The forest gives life. When we took the trees down, the streams and rivers dried up. We know we must change. We are now the best advocates for Gola Rainforest.” The UK is the fourth largest consumer of chocolate in the world. We want that chocolate consumption to do good and to help save the planet’s remaining rainforest. That’s why we are determined to make the Gola chocolate brand a success and will continue to work with the Gola communities. You can watch a video (made by our Chief Technical Advisor to the Gola Company, Pietro Sandini) of the cocoa production process here . Blog Post: The impact of Gola Rainforest in Sierra Leone (part 2): a focus on threatened specieshttps://ww2.rspb.org.uk/community/ourwork/b/martinharper/archive/2018/02/15/the-impact-of-gola-rainforest-in-sierra-leone-part-2-a-focus-on-threatened-species.aspxThu, 15 Feb 2018 07:00:00 GMT6174fb62-ac55-4f5d-840d-caedeb3eebf5:f5bbf2a7-bd3a-4520-a1df-67be81634c2fMartinHarper My pre-dawn walk through Gola Rainforest in Sierra Leone was rewarded with a perfect view of the elusive White-necked Picathartes sitting on its nest. I say ‘elusive’ as this was how Sir David Attenborough branded the bird for his famous 1952 Zoo Quest programme. Today, the Gola Rainforest National Park team know all the Picathartes colonies so for us it was simply a case of getting to the right place at the right time. Sadly, the Picathartes did not hang around for long and once it was off its nest, it became elusive once more as it disappeared into the forest never to be seen again. Not my photo! My colleague, Guy Shorrock took this brilliant picture of White-necked Picathartes a few years ago (rspb-images.com). I just managed a photo of an empty nest While the Picathartes is the pin-up bird for the National Park even featuring on its logo, it is just one of more than 60 species listed as threatened on the IUCN red list. The primary task of the National Park is therefore to protect the forest. When we arrived in Gola, we were first met by the National Park ranger team about to head out on patrol – one of 120 they were expecting to carry out this year. Since the National Park was launched in 2011, the ranger team have cracked down on illegal hunting, forestry and mining. The rangers have an impressive reputation and are now training rangers from other protected areas in Sierra Leone & Liberia. The good news is that their efforts are paying off and species are benefiting as a result. For example, the National Park is home to a population of the critically endangered Western Chimpanzee. This is a species which is vulnerable to habitat fragmentation, poaching and commercial agriculture. Research we have done has shown that the chimps nest preferentially inside rather than outside the National Park. Thanks to the enforcement activities of the Park rangers, the chimp population is stable or increasing unlike nearly all the other chimp populations in West Africa. One of the many fabulous images taken by our camera traps in Gola (with thanks to Benjamin Barca) There is a similarly impressive story for the red colobus monkey as we have recently shown that its population is increasing to the south of the Park. This is really promising as red colobus monkeys are good indicators of primary forest and it suggests that the forest in that part of the National Park is recovering following previous selective logging before the park designation. For our carbon financing work, we need to show that we are preventing deforestation in the park and the surrounding community lands. And we believe the National Park activities are working. That’s good news for the climate, but also good news for some of the most critically endangered species on the planet. This is why the RSPB will continue to support Gola Rainforest. We have shown that by working with local partners and the Sierra Leonean government, we can help protect this global asset. We are in it for the long haul and want to do what we can so that the Park team have long term sustainable funding to allow it to continue to protect the forest in perpetuity. Comment on When is a step forward, actually a step back?https://ww2.rspb.org.uk/community/ourwork/b/martinharper/archive/2018/02/14/when-is-a-step-forward-actually-a-step-back.aspxWed, 14 Feb 2018 19:42:00 GMT6174fb62-ac55-4f5d-840d-caedeb3eebf5:37770d13-0929-4f86-abfe-4baca946466fStackyardGreen An excellent blog - telling it like it is. Comment on When is a step forward, actually a step back?https://ww2.rspb.org.uk/community/ourwork/b/martinharper/archive/2018/02/14/when-is-a-step-forward-actually-a-step-back.aspxWed, 14 Feb 2018 17:50:00 GMT6174fb62-ac55-4f5d-840d-caedeb3eebf5:fa52bf79-2375-414f-8fcb-d0aa763eab40redkite Good blog Chris. I am sorry to say Natural England are totally “ in the pocket” of the vested interests of this Government’s supporters such that regulation by Natural England,especially of grouse moors, is so feeble that the organisation is just not credible any longer. I think that the Government in Scotland is showing far less bias and has a much more reasonable approach when it comes to listening and the RSPB ‘s proposal to license driven grouse moors. Maybe most of the effort and lobbying to achieve licensing legislation should be directed in that direction. However notwithstanding this the strongest possible criticism and protests should still be directed towards Defra and Natural England concerning the obviously farcical, grossly,biased and almost illegal approach they are currently taking. Someone wrote on one of the pyramids when it was being built, “ and no one was angry enough to speak out”. We must all be angry enough to speak out, really angry. I know the RSPB will speak out and is speaking out. Blog Post: When is a step forward, actually a step back?https://ww2.rspb.org.uk/community/ourwork/b/martinharper/archive/2018/02/14/when-is-a-step-forward-actually-a-step-back.aspxWed, 14 Feb 2018 08:40:00 GMT6174fb62-ac55-4f5d-840d-caedeb3eebf5:c1dd1412-f48b-436c-8753-072ced3a9f76MartinHarper Guest blog from my colleague, Chris Corrigan, the RSPB’s England Director. Headlines are important. They’re the first things we see and in many cases are often the only thing we read. But of course, they aren’t the whole story. Achieving positive change takes a lot more than a catchy headline, it requires real commitment to turn a positive headline into reality. Take Defra’s 25 year plan. It contains a lot of laudable aims. Given the range of what it has to cover, it’s light on detail in many places, but it contains a lot of good headlines. One of those headlines sets out the need to restore England’s peatlands. We agree, as does the Committee on Climate Change . Over 70,000 ha of our most important blanket bogs in northern England are being regularly burned on driven grouse moors , causing long-term damage to these special places. The burning of blanket bog is carried out on grouse moors to encourage increased heather growth to provide more food for grouse and increase the number available to shoot. Blanket bogs are globally important with a large proportion found in the UK. When they are in good health, with a good cover of peat forming Sphagnum mosses, they lock up climate change-causing carbon from the atmosphere, improve water quality and slow the rate of water running off the bog. In contrast, water runs off burnt bog more rapidly during storm events making local places further down the hills more vulnerable to flooding. Scientific evidence (including from Natural England and Defra) clearly shows that burning damages blanket bog function and sets back restoration at least 10 years. So obviously we agree with Defra that the restoration of these important habitats is vital, both for the important wildlife they support and the benefits they deliver for people. The way to do this is clear – block drains, revegetate bare peat and stop burning them. Once these steps have been taken, the damaged bog will start to recover. Natural England (NE) claims it will do this by agreeing new, long-term plans with about 180 grouse moor estates, turning the headline into reality. But, and it is a big but, the RSPB has reviewed NE’s first four long-term plans with grouse moor estates and we feel they fall a long way short of what’s needed. The latest is for Walshaw Moor in the south Pennines and the plan fundamentally fails to turn the fine headline into real change. Blanket bogs need water, not fire To cut a long and complicated story short, the plan for Walshaw creates so many loopholes, that the headline of ending burning on blanket bog becomes next to meaningless. It allows burning to continue under the guise of “restoration burning”, including on very healthy blanket bog. There is no evidence this works – and plenty to suggest it doesn’t. Blanket bogs should be wet on the surface – they need water, not fire. And decisions on how to manage the bogs are to be made by the estate owner with apparently very little monitoring by NE itself. NE’s current approach will continue to fail. Rather than focussing on securing healthy blanket bogs and allowing land management compatible with that objective, it seems to be looking at things the wrong way round: allowing a little bit of healthy blanket bog, as long as it doesn’t affect a grouse moor too much. Burning by the back door is still burning However you dress it up, burning by the back door is still burning. We urgently need significant change and for Defra to revisit NE’s approach to ensure it puts special places (and the reason they are so special) first. This is the only way to meet targets set out in the 25-year plan and by the Committee on Climate Change As part of this, Defra needs to provide NE with more resources, specialists and space to operate, ensuring it has the capacity to deliver nature conservation, not economic outcomes. We also need a new world-leading environmental watchdog with oversight of, and the ability to hold to account all public bodies, including Defra and its agencies. One of the criticisms of the 25-year plan was that it was just a nice headline and wouldn’t really result in any action. This is one of the first real tests and it already appears to have failed. And, while we’re on the subject of things which seem to get in the way of intensive grouse moor management, a quick word on hen harriers. We’ve received a few questions about how we intend to respond to Natural England’s ridiculous decision to licence a trial brood management scheme of hen harriers. First of all, to be absolutely clear, we are completely opposed to this . We are carefully considering all the details available about the licensed trial and seeking legal advice so we can decide how best to respond. Blog Post: Show The Love: climate change and seabirdshttps://ww2.rspb.org.uk/community/ourwork/b/scotland/archive/2018/02/14/show-the-love-climate-change-and-seabirds.aspxWed, 14 Feb 2018 08:18:00 GMT6174fb62-ac55-4f5d-840d-caedeb3eebf5:74b69f44-5b2d-45ad-bcdc-28374e19f194Jess B Climate change is happening now and affecting the things we love. As part of Show The Love week we are looking at how nature, in particular seas and seabirds around Scotland’s coasts, is being affected. In the first blog Peadar O’Connell looked at exactly what climate change is and why it is such a threat to our much loved wildlife. The second blog focused at what impact it is having on our seas. In this final blog Peadar addresses the impacts of climate change on seabirds. Show The Love: climate change and seabirds The sounds are fading from our coasts and cliffs; climate change is having frightening impacts on seabirds around the globe. Seabirds are the most threatened group of birds in the world. In the past couple of years two more Scottish seabirds (puffin and kittiwake) have joined the long-tailed duck, velvet scoter and Leach’s storm petrel on a list of species that are at a “high risk of global extinction”. To put that into perspective this list also contains panda bears and snow leopards. There are also six species of UK seabirds on the national Red list with puffins, kittiwakes and shags recently added. Since 1986, the breeding numbers of the 12 regularly monitored species of seabirds in Scotland declined by 50% (in just 30 years!) and there have been huge declines in individual species like kittiwakes (72%), shags (68%) and Arctic skuas (76%). The results of these declines is easy to see, the cliffs are growing quiet. There are many reasons why this is happening with seabirds facing many different pressures but maybe the most insidious of all is climate change. The prehistoric looking shags, suffering huge declines due to increasingly violent winter storms. Today, climate change is affecting seabirds principally in two ways that we know of. Indirectly by changing the availability of prey for seabirds and directly by causing more severe storms in both the summer breeding season and in the winter. As mentioned in the previous blogs ( here and here ) in this series, climate change is implicated in more extreme weather events; this includes stronger storms and more rainfall. This is bad news for seabirds, which often live on the edge of the possible even during the good times. This increases the risk to birds nesting on cliff edges and along the coast where their nests can be washed away. More regular winter storms are thought to be the main driver of the decline in shags. Severe weather also makes finding and catching food more difficult and can cause chicks to die of exposure. Kittiwakes are globally threatened. In Scotland they suffer from changes to their food supply as well as the risk of their nests being washed away during summer storms. A less obvious impact of climate change is the impacts of increasing temperature and acidification on the marine food web. What is becoming very clear is that some species of seabirds including puffins and kittiwakes are struggling to find enough food to feed their chicks in certain parts of Scotland. This can be more or less severe in different years, for example there have been years of nearly complete breeding failure in the Northern Isles leading to fewer birds in the following years. But what’s causing this? It seems that changes in the ocean temperatures around the UK are affecting the primary prey of some of these seabirds, the sandeel. Sandeels are small silvery fish that, as their name suggests, spend a lot of their time buried in the sand in waters up to about 100m deep. Seabirds on the east and north coast of Scotland especially seem to rely heavily on these fish to feed their young chicks. Sandeels have declined, at least in parts of Scotland, and have become more difficult for the seabirds to find. Check out RSPB’s Project Puffin website for some fascinating citizen science research into the diet of puffins carried out last summer, plus some photos of puffins. A puffin with a bill full of sandeels from the Isle of May, some populations, such as those in the Northern Isles, are struggling to find enough food to feed their chicks. Sandeels bury themselves in the sand over most of the winter and do not feed. They survive on their fat stores by slowing their metabolism, similar to bats or hedgehogs in winter. However, the temperature increases due to climate change is affecting their ability to retain a slow metabolism over this period. A higher metabolism means they use up their fat reserves more quickly and don’t have the energy to breed or perhaps even survive to the summer. On top of this the food sandeels prefer to eat (a nutritious cold water plankton called Calanus finmarchicus) is being replaced by less nutritious species as the temperatures rise, and if that wasn’t bad enough the plankton that is taking over has a different life history so it is not abundant enough at the right time of year for the sandeels to feed on. So, we have changes in the environment leading to changes in the plankton that affects the sandeel that impacts on the seabirds and that is before we even look at the other pressures affecting seabirds, sandeels, plankton and their habitats. The impacts of climate change are obviously not restricted to Scotland. Seabirds all around the north Atlantic are in decline; puffins in Iceland have all but disappeared from previous strongholds due to a lack of food. In the Antarctic things are just as bad; penguins are heavily dependent on cold conditions and as temperatures rise there have been huge declines in some species (10 of the 18 species are at risk of extinction) as they struggle to find food and suitable breeding locations. Low-lying islands, the last refuges for millions of seabirds, are sinking beneath rising sea levels and storms, particularly in the Pacific and Indian oceans. The list, unfortunately, goes on. Terns are at particular risk of their nesting sites being flooded by rising sea levels. Arctic terns are also heavily dependent on sandeels to feed their chicks and have undergone huge declines in Orkney and Shetland. So, what can be done to help seabirds? Along with others we have been working to give seabirds the best possible chance to adapt to the changes that are already occurring but this is extremely challenging as seabird protection requires government commitments, proper resourcing and diverse stakeholder participation. Primarily seabirds need three things to help make them more resilient to climate change: safe places to breed, safe places to feed and the ability to survive into adulthood. Island restoration and the eradication of invasive predatory species (like mice and rats) introduced by man onto islands can increase the resilience of seabird colonies giving them a far stronger opportunity to cope with other changes and hardships. Biosecurity measures are vital to keep these invasive predators off the islands in the first place. Marine protected areas provide safe havens so long as they are managed effectively and resourced appropriately so that monitoring and enforcement can take place. These areas can protect both breeding and feeding areas for seabirds. An ecosystem approach to both fisheries and marine planning ensures economic gain isn’t prioritised over sustainable and healthy environments, which underpins all marine activities. For example, we must ensure fishing for small fish like sandeel doesn’t increase the pressure on the birds, sea mammals and larger fish that rely on them. When planning developments like renewable energy infrastructure, which is vital to achieving a low-carbon economy, we must ensure turbines are placed in suitable areas so that seabird populations and other marine life are not put at risk – this is all possible. The only way we can save our seabirds, marine life and ultimately ourselves is to do something about climate change before it is too late, and that means now! Although it is easy to start to feel like climate change is too big to deal with, it is not – we have the technology at our disposal, but we need to change our behaviour. We also need to convince our governments to act, and fast. Otherwise, we will be entering a world that is unrecognisable to those of us alive today, and the scale of biodiversity loss will be immense. If we do not make tough demands of our governments they will not deliver the necessary actions, so it is critical that we all become informed, involved and act to address this threat. A first step is to Show the Love by making, wearing and sharing a green heart. There are lots of other things to do here to show family, friends and your elected representatives that you care. Later this year, in Scotland, the Scottish Government will be introducing a new Climate Bill to the Holyrood Parliament. We, and our seabirds, need the new emissions targets in this Bill to be ambitious and world-leading, and for it to include strong new action to reduce those emissions to zero by mid-century. Please look out for our Climate Bill campaign work later this year and our partner Stop Climate Chaos Scotland’s website – and keep showing the love for all you hold dear that you don’t want to lose because of climate change. Comment on Show the Love for Halvergate Marsheshttps://ww2.rspb.org.uk/community/ourwork/b/east/archive/2018/02/12/show-the-love-for-halvergate-marshes.aspxMon, 12 Feb 2018 22:35:00 GMT6174fb62-ac55-4f5d-840d-caedeb3eebf5:1358f1a5-cc0f-4cb0-af1f-b9850fa681e5StackyardGreen Great stuff. Many thanks for the detailed account of what's happening. All very exciting.